Elevator mechanics can make over $150,000, and this CEO says they can’t hire them fast enough

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figcaption>Otis CEO Judy Marks said the company can’t hire elevator mechanics fast enough.Marks said elevator mechanics, in particular, tend to stay in the profession for decades. She said Otis has roughly as many mechanics with zero to five years of experience as it does workers who have been with the company for more than 30 years.

“We don’t have this kind of ‘silver cliff’ that’s coming,” Marks said, referring to how some older workers struggle in other trades.

“Most of them stay in the trade the rest of their life, and a lot of them, their fathers or mothers or grandfathers were in it.”

In the US, Otis elevator mechanics are represented through a multi-employer union. Marks said it offers an apprenticeship for people starting at 18 years old, working for Otis during the day as helpers while attending elevator service school at night. After completing a four-year apprenticeship and passing a mechanic’s exam, workers achieve journeyman status in the trade.

One of the highest-paying trade jobs

Elevator mechanics sit at the top of the pay scale when it comes to trade jobs.

The BLS released data on Friday that found that elevator and escalator installers and repairers earned the highest average salary among construction and extraction occupations in May 2025, at $109,820, with the 90th percentile at $158,890. That’s well above both the category’s average wage of $65,360 and the overall US average wage of $69,770, according to the report.

Other top-paying trades in the category included first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers, who earned an average of $86,450, and terrazzo workers and finishers, who made $84,920, the report said.

In addition to solid pay, elevator mechanic roles at Otis also include eligibility for paid college tuition.

“When they come out and come work for us, I’ll pay if they want to go to college,” Marks said.